Paul Pierce seems to be preparing himself to leave.

At this point in the decision-making process with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, we are trying to read tea leaves, which are notoriously unreliable. But if I was reading tea leaves that said “Hey Tom, you are going to die on Tuesday. No, seriously,” I’d get a little worried.

And the tea leaves are becoming similarly clear in Pierce’s situation. According to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe, Pierce has already begun preparing his family for relocation.

From The Boston Globe:

The Celtics have to decide by June 30 whether to buy out Pierce’s contract at $5 million. Ainge said the sides have not had discussions, but an NBA source said Pierce’s family is already beginning to prepare for relocation from Boston, assuming the Celtics will execute the buyout or trade his expiring contract in the offseason.

Pierce struggled mightily during the playoffs, and Ainge was asked whether the longtime Celtic was injured.

“Paul’s always battling little things,” said Ainge. “I think Paul’s healthy, but he played so hard and carried such a heavy load.

“Paul had a terrific year this year, but in the playoffs, New York did a good job of taking away his strengths and taking advantage of some of our weaknesses. But I thought Paul had a terrific year.”

We have all been kind of preparing for this moment. Even though logic would dictate that giving up Pierce and Garnett would free up minimal cap space, this season felt like an ending.

As has been outlined elsewhere, the Celtics have two options if they decide to allow Pierce to leave Boston: Trade his expiring contract (and still very serviceable basketball skills) or buy out his contract for $5 million and allow him to find his next team on his own.

Despite the indignity of the buyout process, the latter may actually be the kinder option for Pierce. He should be allowed to finish on his own terms on a contender of his own choosing, and a buyout would allow him that option. On the other hand, if Ainge could swing a deal with a contender (*cough* the Clippers *cough*) that would still bring the Celtics a serviceable player at a lacking position (*cough* Eric Bledsoe *cough*), that might be an acceptable alternative. 

We will save the heartfelt farewell (it won’t be the first one on this site) until we have more certainty, but it’s starting to seem likely that Paul Pierce has played his last game in a Celtics uniform.

Follow Tom on Twitter: @Tom_NBA.

Courtney,

You started out really slow, I think everyone was missing Avery Bradley and Ray Allen and were hoping for you to be the “light” version of some combination of those two, but it took a while.  The Celtic defense took a little while for you to grasp, which is okay, I know there are a lot of rotations– and getting used to Garnett barking orders from the back line can be a big learning curve.  Eventually you got most of it, playing some decent ball on both sides of the court, contributing where you could and otherwise taking a back seat.

There was even a fun little backcourt when Rondo went down for injury where you and Avery Bradley ran around harassing the opposing guards– often picking them up around three-quarters court.  It prevented the opposing teams from going right into their offense, giving them less time to run some of their half-court sets.  While this was a small thing– it made a big difference in the functioning of Boston’s defense.

You struggled to find your stroke for a while this season and were not quite able to stretch the floor like Boston had hoped.  Coming into the season there was a great deal of hype surrounding your ability to drain the corner three, shooting at a high efficiency.   This did not actualize itself into something that really benefited Boston’s offense this season, and could have been a more deadly weapon if you hit that shot at a higher rate and if the Celtic’s were able to dribble penetrate more often to force rotations to get you those open corner looks.

Then the trade for Jordan Crawford happened and in unrelated notes, the Celtics offense fell completely flat.  They became predictable and easy to game plan for, without a dynamic player (Rondo) to really stir the offense and keep things fresh.  This became especially evident against the Knicks when they were able to see the Boston offense for six straight games– the predictable became the expected and the Celtics searched their bench for answers.  Doc found Jordan Crawford and on paper this makes some sense.  Crawford is a complete wildcard on both ends of the floor and down double digits in many of the games and Doc needed someone to shake things up and create their own offense.  In practice Crawford shot just over 30% from the field, 25% behind the arc, had three turnovers and no assists.  This ended up being the wrong choice– and you Mr. Lee, I believe you were the right choice, or at least the more correct one.

While I am still unsure as to why you fell so far out of Mr. River’s favor, you seemed to be solid all year long.  This brings up some very serious question marks for you moving forward.  You are making around five million a year through the 2015-2016 season, and while that is slightly overpaid, I think you could still be a valuable asset to this Celtics franchise.  There have been a number of rumors including you and Jason Terry being traded to another team, but I am not entirely sure the value of you and JET are going to be worth what the Celtics would get back in return.  I would prefer you wait it out and become a solid bench player with Rondo, Bradley, and JET– the Celtic backcourt could be much worse.

For a slight improvement I would look to further solidify your jumper and continue to learn the Celtic defense.  Boston needs you to be scrappy, so any energy and spark you could provide (most likely) coming off the bench would be huge for the Celtics moving forward.  Thanks for the effort and cheering on the rest of the team in their battle with New York in the opening round.

Follow Jesse on Twitter: J_duderanch

Danny Ainge may be giving the players some time away from basketball, but we are calling every player on the roster into our Celtics Town offices for their exit interviews for the rest of this week. Here’s the fourteenth in the series: Terrence Williams.

Terrence,

I’m usually supportive of whatever “unknown” is currently languishing at the end of the Celtics’ bench. You came to the Celtics with a bit of a reputation (including the simultaneous compliment/insult of having been dubbed the D-League Oscar Robertson) but like many of those “unknowns” I had irrationally campaigned for before you, we had no idea what you could do on the floor for this team. Then after your nine point, four rebound, four assist breakout game against Phoenix you were no longer an unknown, and if I wasn’t building the Terrence Williams bandwagon I was certainly sitting shotgun. I was completely sold.

Your passing is probably your greatest attribute, especially for a Celtics team that was struggling without anything remotely resembling a true point guard, and in that Phoenix game you showed the ability to consistently make the right play in transition. You’re like a locomotive heading to the hoop with your size and strength, and those same physical gifts help you hold your own on the boards. While you’re obviously not perfect, your all around game shows room for growth and that makes me excited. Your defense has been up and down and your jumpshot could be better, but thats nothing a little hard work can’t fix.

And it’s been your willingness to put in hard work that has me most excited about your future. When Doc Rivers told you you were a point guard, a position you had never really played before, you committed to it. You put in late nights at the gym and your work ethic earned the respect and admiration of the team’s veterans. It’s that attitude that allowed you to grind your way into the Celtics playoff rotation, becoming the team’s seventh man ahead of Jordan Crawford and Courtney Lee.

It’s rare to find a player with both the talent and drive you’ve shown during your short time in Boston. The Celtics have acquired troubled talent in free agency before (including my previous favorite former Nets draft pick, Sean Williams) but that work ethic sets you apart. I’ll admit I may be overselling you a bit, but what we’ve seen from you so far has me optimistic about your future (though perhaps its just the prospect of having a real backup point guard for once) and I’d be shocked if you weren’t back in Boston next year.

Follow Jordan on Twitter: @HiggsOnHoops

Green's scar is a testament to how successful and satisfying his season was.

There are three (and only three) players about whom I feel confident saying they will return from this year’s squad. The list, in order from least confident to most:

• Jared Sullinger. Sully presents an intriguing trade chip if Boston needs a sweetener going after bigger names, but his value is considerably higher as a Celtic. Very little reason to trade him on his own.
• Rajon Rondo. Rondo’s status may never seem certain around the trade deadline, but other teams will want to see him returning healthy before they pull the trigger on a trade involving him.
• Yourself, Jeff Green.

Why do I feel so confident? Consider the following (yes, more bullet points):

• One year after open heart surgery, you averaged 16.6 points per 36 minutes.
• Your 3-point shooting was unbelievable. According to mySynergySports.com, you shot 39.1% from 3-point range, which is excellent. What’s more, you finished at 40% if we remove nine missed half-court heaves that you chucked up, which brought down your average. In spot-up situations, which amounted for nearly 70% of your 3-point attempts, you averaged 46.8% from 3-point range. That’s unbelievable.
• Oh, and by the way, you averaged 1.17 points per possession in spot-up attempts, which was 33rd in the entire NBA.
• Your individual defense, particularly on LeBron James, was spectacular. In Synergy’s (admittedly somewhat flawed) defensive statistics, your opponents shot just 36.3% for the season.

Also this:

And this:

And we can’t forget this:

Those are just unkind, Jeff. I fully approve.

I think what was most satisfying about your season was the way everyone wrote you off before the year even began. Danny gave you a pretty large contract as the season began, and immediately writers began jumping all over it. I’m including myself in this; I thought it was a horrible risk to give a player like yourself (significant health risks, little actual production) four years/$36 million. I wasn’t necessarily against giving you $9 million a season, but why hand you the long contract right away? Why not overpay you for one season, then reassess at the end of it? Then, when the season began and you struggled, we all began to worry. What if Danny just threw away 36 million over four seasons? I despaired.

As it turns out, I was wrong to despair. This happens a lot.

Once you settled into a groove (which, incidentally, was something you never had a chance to do in 2011), you came out swinging. I remember that dunk on Al Jefferson in particular because I wondered if it might shake you out of your reverie and remind you that playing basketball is FUN, especially for an ultra-long, bouncy forward. I’m not sure if it was the dunk that did it, but you performed considerably better after it. You and Pierce, especially, seemed to develop a great give-and-take that resulted in some of the best games of your career including a MONSTER night against the Heat. Somehow we managed to waste your performance, which was depressing, but watching you single-handedly lay a beatdown on Miami was probably the most satisfying moment of the season.

It’s also difficult to complain about your playoff run. You averaged 20 points and 5.3 rebounds in 43 minutes per game, which was considerably higher in both categories than your regular season averages. You shot 45.3% from 3-point range (!!!!!!), which was excellent. Generally, you did just about everything Boston could have asked from you. The long minutes were beginning to get to you by the end, but they were getting to everyone else in Doc’s 7-man rotation. It was a lot to ask.

There are certainly areas in which you could improve. You are still not a great rebounder (or even a good one), which is disappointing for a player of your size and athleticism. If you could average seven rebounds per game, I’d feel a little bit better about the idea of you replacing Pierce, but at this point in your career, I’m just not sure those kind of numbers are realistic on the boards. Your help defense can be problematic. Your first step, although it’s long, still isn’t really quick enough to get around some of the faster perimeter defenders. I’m not sure how you would work on those things over the summer, but improving them would go a long way toward cementing your reputation as an excellent player.

We already hinted at this in an earlier section, but the next question for you is whether or not you can replace Paul Pierce. The easy (and correct) answer is no, you can’t. Pierce is a Celtic legend and his departure will be the cause for mourning. But can you produce numbers similar to his? Possibly. That remains to be seen, especially when Rondo returns. You never really got a chance to get comfortable with Rondo, which was disappointing given your similar skill-sets. Your interaction will be an entertaining subplot next year.

But that comes later, and it’s possible you may not even have to replace Pierce. All in all, your season was probably the most satisfying of any Celtic. You out-performed expectations and while I wouldn’t say you silenced your critics (because there are still plenty of them), I WOULD say that they should stay silenced. At this point, your contract is looking pretty damn good.

I’m looking forward to next year, Jeff. I think it will be a good one for you.

Follow Tom on Twitter: @Tom_NBA.

Chris,

Brandon Bass does two things on offense. This is one of them.

Brandon,

Interesting fact that I bet you didn’t know: When you search Google Images for “Brandon Bass,” a shirtless guy who clearly lifts more weights than me shows up a lot. So that’s a thing. Maybe I should go on a diet.

Anywho, it would be cliche and not quite accurate to call your season up and down. That phrase usually suggests that you went through a lot of lulls and rises. The reality is that you went through a prolonged lull and then a prolonged rise; a return to respectability that culminated in what, realistically, may have been a team-MVP performance in the first round of the playoffs.

For much of the season, you struggled to find your range. For you, offensively, that’s a pretty big hit. Your entire offensive game is predicated on two things.

1. Your pick-and-pop mid-range game, which became much more difficult when Rondo went down for the season since pick-and-pops are kind of his thing.
2. Your snail-speed monster dunks which unfold seemingly in slow-motion and end up with you looking like you are going to tear the rim off the backboard.

Obviously, without Blake Griffin-esque athleticism, you weren’t going to be able to base your entire game off the latter, which meant that you needed the former to have an impact offensively. And as the season progressed, you quietly began hitting a LOT more of your shots. You finished .06 below your career average, but you were actually better than last year from the field, so most people were willing to call your season a success.

But the success of your season actually had a lot more to do with the defensive end. In that series against the Knicks, you were shockingly effective against Carmelo Anthony. You were too strong for his bull drives, too big for him to get around consistently, too long for his jumpers and too smart for his pump fakes, which frustrated and limited him. Ultimately, of course, the Celtics were too limited to truly take advantage of your performance, but if any player can redeem a somewhat-disappointing season with a single solid playoff series (that his team lost), you did so against New York.

Next year is a contract year for you, and you will be a $6.9 million expiring contract, so you will definitely hear your name floated around this summer and up until the trade deadline (if you aren’t traded before then). It’s Danny. You’ve been warned.

It’s tough to say much more to you when you are such a known commodity. Everyone knows that you shoot pretty well from mid-range. Everybody knows you don’t do much else offensively. Everyone knows you don’t grab a ton of rebounds, but you are a pretty solid individual defender (it’s worth noting that your rebounding during the playoffs, 7.1 per 36 minutes, was actually pretty acceptable given that you were mostly defending Carmelo so far from the basket).

At this point, those are just the things you do, and it’s tough to see you expanding much on that repertoire. So…keep doing those things, and brace yourself. The trade rumors are coming.

Follow Tom on Twitter: @Tom_NBA.